The Creation (Book III)

(22) Past: 1938

(22) Past: 1938

I stared silently out the car window as rain splattered against the glass, my thoughts far from the car. I didn't ask any questions about where we were going or what we were doing; I didn't care. Also, I knew the silence was killing Xavier, and that brought me an incredible amount of satisfaction.

We pulled up to yet another house for us to stay in until Xavier said it was time to leave. I didn't make a movement, but instead kept staring out the window with the same hopeless expression I've worn for nearing five months now. The expression has become a part of me now, hollow eyes and all. A year ago I might have faked a smile or laugh around Xavier to make him happy, but I will no more. Xavier didn't deserve to say any good side of me, even though he's been desperately trying to find some way for me to even smile.

My car door opened, causing me to flinch when the rain began to drip over my legs and arms. Xavier tried to use his coat to cover me, but I refused it and walked right past him, rain soaking my dress and ruining my curls. I could hear a loud and almost painful sigh behind me before he went to retrieve our luggage. As he carried the two suitcases he had packed himself, I stood on the roofless porch looking like a drowned rat. Xavier quickly opened the door of the house and guided me in.

I immediately realized this wasn't some house we were taking from someone because there was no recent scent of a human. The house was furnished with just the basic necessities, such as a sofa in front of a fireplace and a tiny coffee table between the two. I almost groaned when I realized the only seating in the room was the sofa, which seemed to be barely enough seating for two. My bitterness was so intense, I didn't even want to sit on the same piece of furniture as my creator. Sharing a bed with him was already killing me internally.

"We'll have to hunt tomorrow night, unfortunately. I doubt many humans will be out in this weather," Xavier murmured, immediately starting a fire to warm the room.

I didn't reply, partly because it bothered him so much to only get silence from me.

Xavier started the fire within a minute using a box of matches that sat on the mantle of the fireplace. He turned to me as he removed him soaked suit jacket and ran his finger through his dripping hair. "I'll start us a bath-"

"I'm fine," I stated, the first words I had said in nearly two nights.

It has been nearly five months since Xavier and I have had any intimate contact. It was by far the longest we had ever gone. Every time he so much as touches me, I see those dark, bottomless eyes filled with rage and I flinch from him. When I close my eyes during the day, I can still hear the sound of Axel's cries. Five months, and I still cannot rid that night from my thoughts.

Xavier looked down at the floor as if to gather his next words. "I will get a bath ready for you, if you prefer to have one of your own...?"

If I preferred to bathe alone? I haven't even undressed in front of him in months, so did he really think this new house would change my hatred towards him? I knew he was trying his hardest to win me back in some way, but I couldn't even consider letting our lips touch. "Yes, I would prefer that."

He didn't hide the pain he felt from my coldness before he went off to the bathroom. I savored it, which made me almost bothered by my pleasure in someone's pain. It didn't matter how monstrous Xavier has been; I'm not a monster. I knew I shouldn't take pleasure in pain because that's not who I was.

I took a seat on the sofa and retrieved my book from my bag, immediately flipping to the page I was last on. Xavier usually wasn't thrilled to have me reading quite so often because, as many men seem to believe, books "change" women. However, in an effort to win me back, he has actually been buying me several. Reading allowed me to escape from this hell and into a world of possibilities, as silly as it may seem. That's what I was doing when Xavier came back into the room half an hour later.